Devon Hunter

Dear QueerClick,

We have some unfinished business, you and I. But before I address any of that, I want you to know that I am not ranting as I write this. Although Howard at Fabscout and a fellow gay porn blogger bore the brunt of that fury last night, I want to be clear that I am writing this morning with the calm tone of cool “detachment.” Last night I felt that people were right, and that what happened last night on Twitter didn’t matter; however, this morning I realize that although I’m not screaming into a telephone, I am still aware of the need to get these justified feelings out of my head.

In June of 2010 your company published my legal name. I have a series of emails that I can publish if you want to deny it now (and I also have screen captures of all the Tweets from last night), but at that time your QC Features Editor was falling over himself to apologize to me. He even went so far as to say in public on this blog that he would, “spend the rest of my professional career ensuring that I never unwittingly injure another as I have [Devon]. May he and the others I’ve disappointed find it in their hearts to forgive us.” Although most readers didn’t accept that at the time, between the public statements and the private ones between you and I, I decided to let this go as much as possible.

However, that has now changed…

Although eight or nine months have passed, and although you, QueerClick, no longer have to worry about what has become a buried moment of ineptitude, people took screen captures of your story. I don’t blog everything that happens to me (though it may seem like it at times), but I want you to know that I still contend with isolated instances of harassment from abjectly crazy people. I would also point out that it took four months for all the cashed versions of this gaffe to finally rotate out of Google’s database. I don’t believe you are evil in the purposefully hurtful way that is obvious to anyone. No, I believe you are evil, QueerClick, in the subtler, “unintentional” way of acting irresponsibly and then being detached from your connection to the Cause/Effect that your meat grinder creates. I believe you’re evil, because you behave in the manner of any other cold, mechanical corporation that does what it does to generate the money it wants, no matter the cost. And this is where I will always have more value than you, despite being a single person: Your entire site and everything you do on it is geared toward money, and everything my site does is geared toward people. I win. Every time.

Now, QueerClick, let me explain to you with a level head and calm tone why you suck demon cock:

1. No one ever mentions you to me when they ask about that fiasco from last June. They only ever ask about Sean Cody. And I’ve never really put much effort into bringing you up, because (until last night) I wanted to believe your public and private mea culpas. But now that has changed: I will, from now on, continue mentioning your name as well. I’m not inventing it: In the public comments on this blog I watched you avoid removing my legal name from that cover story as long as possible. It might have been a mistake to include my legal name with Sean Cody’s press release, but your “writers” used my legal name in the body of that story that YOU wrote, in the captions of the pictures throughout the story, and within the title of the URL address. On the public comment section of “A rose by any other name…” my readers had to mention each one of these separate “horrible, inexcusable, and irreversible” mistakes – you were looking for ways to leave my name in that fucking piece of rubbish article the entire time.
2. You say repeatedly that you are not affiliated with Sean Cody beyond the level that they are advertisers, and to this I say, “Bullshit, you’re a liar.” I don’t know who Tweets on behalf of your company, but please tell this person for me that s/he is a complete and total Twat. Please do not bother erasing/denying what I am about to describe: I have screen captures of the exchange. Last night you Tweeted about a “new” model who had been brought to your attention by some magazine. I clicked on the link, and was taken to a photo shoot of a model named Simon. This immediately irked me, and reminded me of the “non-connection” between you and Sean Cody, because this “new model” is Simon Dexter (aka “Harley,” possibly the single most popular model Sean Cody has ever had).
3. I pointed this “mistake” out to you. And do you remember what your response to me was? Do you know what you actually said to ME of all the ants crawling around on this picnic table? You said, “OMG! You’re right! We got caught up in the armpit and forgot to look closely! LOL” What may look like a simple gaffe to you and everyone else sent me from irritated into full rage. How dare you, only eight months later, already fall into the same exact carelessness that perpetuated this entire problem in the first place? How dare you admit that “gaffe” to ME of all people, and IN PUBLIC?!
4. You didn’t respond when I  asked whether the magazine that “alerted us to this smokin’ hot new model shot by Dylan Rosser” was in fact the magazine that Simon Dexter himself started. So, is it? Don’t pretend Simon Dexter isn’t starting his own fashion magazine: He’s such a clueless megalomaniac that Simon actually asked me to write for it, so I know it’s at least getting ready to be launched, if it hasn’t already. So, I want to know: Is the magazine that just happened to clue you in to Simon’s existence the same one he himself started? In short, did “Harley” from Sean Cody clue you in to his existence as a model? I’m assuming “Harley” would need to tell you himself, since there is such a gulf of separation between you and Sean Cody…
5. Although you skimmed over that detail on Twitter last night, you did do that which set me off to the point that I lost my voice from screaming (although I am not screaming right now): “[We] fully admit it was an error to publish your name we found on the web, we apologized and did remove it. What you choose to do with that is fine. We get it. You can be pissed.” Let’s look at this: You admitted on my blog and in private that you utterly fucked up to the point that you may have been worried I could sue you, yes; however, you never, to my knowledge, gave the same amount of coverage to the apology as you gave to my humiliation. You didn’t find my name on the web, it was provided to you, and then you provided it to everyone else. You apologized and removed it only in painfully protracted stages under public pressure, and did nothing to get it out of Google’s memory before it expired on its own in October. What I “choose to do with it” isn’t under your authority to grant. You “get” exactly nothing, and if I want, I am entitled to be pissed for the rest of my goddamned life! All I did was describe my experience working for Sean Cody: YOU PEOPLE TRIED TO RUIN ME BECAUSE OF IT.
6. Although I agree with my gay porn blogger confidante that you aren’t purposefully malicious, I want to point out that you are a company composed of hack writers with no sense of morality or work ethic; you steal material from others without citing their contributions; you, by your own admission, release and spread information without checking it; and you completely feed into the exploitation of the human beings who give you anything worth writing about in the first place. I am not your cannon fodder, QueerClick, and neither are any of the other models you chew through on a daily basis.
7. You have the cold audacity to think you actually understand what you have done. You don’t get it AT ALL. You do not appreciate AT ALL the way in which you have made me vulnerable to crazy people. If you really wanted to attempt to do right by me, you would give the same word count and central placement on your heavily trafficked blog to describing your “oversight” and apologizing to me as you did in “unintentionally” feeding into the behavior that proved I was right about Sean Cody in the first place. You would at least pretend not to be so incestuously connected to that company. And you would stop acting like a tabloid muckraker. You can make your money, of course; however, do you have to invest so completely in being the very worst of the exploitative stereotype that is attached to this industry? All I am asking for you to do is act like a human being.

I feel better for now. I don’t know who is in charge of public relations at QueerClick and Sean Cody, but both of these people should get sacked for neglecting their duties. Please know that I continue to hold you at the level of esteem that you deserve,

Devon Hunter

And these will be some of the consequences within 24-36 hours of that happening:

1. You will start getting prank phone calls on your private cell number
2. You will hear of friends/family with private phone numbers being called by “journalists” from the AP
3. You will receive hate-ridden messages on a variety of media from crazy people
4. You will be recognized while driving and degraded by strangers
5. You will find less important people in your life distancing themselves from you

I cannot stress it enough: You should NOT work for Sean Cody. They do not respect you or your private information. You are nothing to them but a meat sack with some money in it. In making this decision to “out” me, they have caused me a few inconveniences; however, I genuinely hope that people will realize that in trying to defend themselves from the truth in my account that they have damaged themselves so deeply that their brand is completely tainted.

If I find that there are unfamiliar activities on my credit report I am going to not only dispute those potential inaccuracies, I am going to lay the blame squarely on Sean Cody and pursue legal action against those who defraud me. Sean Cody was my former employer, and if they disrespect my Social Security Number in the same manner as they have my name (and by extension many other aspects of my privacy), I will be certain to tell all of you all about it.

If any further incidents happen, I may also publish the phone numbers/email address/names/aim chat names I have of the staff at Sean Cody (and publish the name of this anonymous Vice President who wrote the initial press release that used my legal name), so that you can call and tell them personally whether or not you think their actions have been appropriate. And while you have them on the phone, you can also ask them if it is particularly savvy on their part to respond to my review of their process of making porn by doing everything in their power to prove everything I said about them is correct?

At some point Sean Cody may release an email I sent to them a year ago. In it I am thanking them for allowing me to work with them, commending them for being supportive on set, saying I wanted to work with them again, apologizing if I held up the process of filming, or came across as bitchy. Yes. I definitely wrote it. I remember writing it. AND I WROTE IT, SO THAT I COULD GET MORE WORK OUT OF AN EXCLUSIVE CONTRACT THAT HAD NO GUARANTEE FOR FURTHER WORK. Kissing your boss’s ass is part of doing business. I said what I needed to say to get the most out of a bad situation.

But before you dismiss me as a liar for having written that email (which I will include below), keep in mind that when they asked me to come back for a third movie, I turned it down. At that time I already preferred going on a trip with a potential boyfriend and losing money, rather than working with Sean Cody again to make money. I decided to go to Biltmore for the trip I’d already paid for, losing $500 – $1,000 in the process, rather than skipping on the trip and going to San Diego to make $3,500. I apologize for what may look like an inconsistency, but it is not. I would also point out that I wrote to them from my DEVON HUNTER email account – if they had a problem with me being an exotic dancer prior to working with them why didn’t they ask me about this alias under whose name I had been writing to them for an entire year? If necessary I will post the ENTIRE conversation I had by email to demonstrate that I always wrote to them from my DEVON HUNTER account.

“From: Devon Hunter [mailto:devonhunter1814@yahoo.com]
Sent: Friday, June 05, 2009 11:33 AM
To: NAME REMOVED TO PROTECT THIS PERSON’S PRIVACY
Subject: Scene with “Fuller”

I sent you a text, but I wanted to send an email as well. Thanks for booking me to do a scene with (FULLER’S LEGAL NAME)/”Fuller.” He was really awesome to work with – he was very friendly and personable. So were the crew members. They were all very patient and supportive of me towards the end: By the fifth pose I was really exhausted/desensitized and getting more than a tad cranky, and I wanted to apologize to them if they thought I was difficult, or if I slowed the process down for everyone. If (INSERT CAMERA MAN’S NAME) or anyone else has any feedback for how I can do better next time, please pass this on to me. I look forward to working with you guys again soon!”

I have been asked repeatedly how I decided to use the name Devon Hunter, and in the aftermath of the Sean Cody discussion I should finally tell this story. You see, someone has decided (in a fit of revenge) to release my legal name to the public. I have been waiting for someone to finally expose my personal business to the world, without consideration for my safety (and all because I have dared to describe the ways in which gay-for-pay pornography is destructive to gay men). Shame on you, sir. Shame on you. You are my gay brother, but I am ashamed of you.

Fine.

My name is (edited). My entire family knows about my career, as do almost all of my friends. I chose the name Devon, because I knew a man by that name who was beautiful but humble; I chose Hunter, because I knew one who was not particularly handsome, but confident nonetheless; and I thought putting them together in one person would be the ideal for which I would strive. So, now if you want to waste your time looking all my private information up, you can knowing that internalized homophobia has put me at the center of the target, but that I’m still here and I won’t stop blogging about my experiences in the adult entertainment industry.

I do not back down from intimidation.

I don’t have anything to hide. Shame on you, sir. Shame on you. I hope this decision you have made will further illustrate why models should NOT work for your homophobic company.

Click here to see how Sean Cody may try to hurt you if you speak about their homophobic practices.

It’s funny how certain conversations seem to happen in batches. This weekend I am visiting friends and seeing clients in DC. Last weekend I was dancing in Greenville, SC and Asheville, NC. I was booked for the latter first, which was a fundraiser, and since it interrupted my weekend I decided to book the former to have something to do. My good friend Roxy C. Morecox is a widely celebrated female illusionist, and we talk pretty candidly about the escorting. She asked me which I preferred, escorting or exotic dancing. Oddly enough, I have had three clients ask me that question recently too.

I have to say it: Unequivocally, I prefer escorting. The bookings at the clubs this weekend drew everything into sharp focus. I don’t do the clubs hardly ever anymore, so when I do I keep having the same reaction: I used to put up with this abject bullshit? Really?? For TWELVE YEARS???

First, my clients are ALWAYS sober, clean, polite, and respectful. The place where I meet them is comfortable, and I am very relaxed and happy with the time I spend with my clients. I walked into the doors at the clubs and already felt out of place. My asshole even puckered tightly shut when I first walked into one of the clubs. Really? I mean really?? Why does this place have to be so gross?

Let me start by comparing the two. Whether I escort or perform I have to be conscious of my body, appearance, hygiene, and manners. Regardless of which I am doing I also have to be very sensitive to others. Also, whether I dance or date I have to be on top of my business.

However…

When I escort my clients are ALWAYS gentlemen. When I dance, gentlemen are almost nowhere to be found. When I escort my clients compliment my appearance. When I dance I get told any number of insulting comments about whatever feature is most offensive in that particular moment. When I escort the men are interested in talking to me and knowing something about me. When I dance they are far more likely to do or say anthing possible to embarrass or humiliate me. When I escort I can pay my bills. When I dance I am commanded to do any number of ridiculously inappropriate sexual circus tricks for a dollar. When I escort I stay in comfortable hotels. When I dance, the club owners stick me in places that I would be ashamed for clients to see. When I escort there are never requests for barebacking. When I dance I have this thrown at me in the dressing room: “Can I fuck you raw? I am into felching. I like to wipe it on my face – it’s good for the skin.”

Are you kidding me with this? I even had one loathsome individual try to tip me with my own money. He was so high that he thought the tips I’d handed to a friend to count was the cash he’d brought in to tip me with. Ummmmmmm… no. Not so much.

I had a very good time laughing and dancing with Roxy, and I would love to travel with her some more; however, I made in an entire weekend what I can make in two hours without the sleepless nights, smoke, drug addicts, alcohol, wanton groping, and strained muscles/sore back.

I definitely prefer escorting.

Warning for DC boys: A time waster’s method 

Fool me once, shame on you… fool me twice, shame and plague on you… fool me thrice, and I tell everyone on the internet about your bullshit…

If you are a companion in Washington, D.C. there is a particular time waster you need to know about who is cruising the ads right now. He almost undermined my entire trip by filling up my schedule and then not showing up to any of the bookings. He is clever, and it took three times for me to put together all the similarities of his scam, and now I will share them with you, so that you do not risk losing not only the opportunity to see clients, but also the money the trip costs to go to D.C. The three instances I am about to describe were spaced out over weeks, and did not happen in even/rapid succession.

Clue #1: Totally ordinary (and complete) name revealed in message/address
This person uses ordinary names. He changed it for each time he contacted me, obviously. The names he used are not obvious fakes like John Smith. They are just ordinary enough to seem real. Although these are not the names he used, they set an example: Brian Fannerty. Jimmy Copeland. Frank Westerman. They sound like real names… He was too sophisticated to go for over-the-top names like Rex Hammer, or some porno sounding crap like that.

Clue #2: Gmail server
All three of these “people” had username@gmail.com emails. Take particular note in D.C. if you get an email from a GMail account with a perfectly normal first and last name put together as a compound word or separated by a period. (e.g. brianfannerty@gmail.com or brian.fannerty@gmail.com) Although not unheard of, most people will contact you with an email that does NOT reveal their entire name. Most people prefer more discretion than that, until they become acquainted with you.

Clue #3: Extended appointments
All three jumped right into asking about multiple hour sessions. “I have a birthday I want to celebrate with an overnight;” “I just broke up with a boyfriend, and I want to go a little crazy;” and “I got a raise, and I had the extra money burning a hole in my pocket.” Although I didn’t ask for an explanation from these “people,” I was offered overly plausible reasons for wanting long/overnight sessions on first meetings. All three ultimately went from 2-, 3-, or 4-hour sessions straight to overnights with no suggestion from me to do so.

Clue #4: Questionable photos (given without being asked)
All three attached photos within a few emails. I never ask for this. If someone wants to share his pics he may do so, but I never ask or insist on it. All three ended up attaching photos that I didn’t think seemed authentic, but I wasn’t going to question. However, the pics from the third “individual” were what finally made all of this click into place. (If you find yourself in this scenario in D.C., and you find yourself looking at a photo and thinking “Hm, I wouldn’t have expected that” for any reason… well… there you have it.)

Clue #5: Dead email, phone number
For all three the GMail addy stopped working days before my trip or during it. For one of them the phone number had also been disconnected (yes, I’d spoken at length with one of the “individuals” on the phone, and since he was the “first” to contact me, but the “second” to disappear, I had zero reason to be suspicious about connecting the three together).

I ended up having a good trip to D.C., so I thwarted this; however, I did leave early when I started not feeling well. Despite this person’s overly thorough efforts, I did just fine. Just sayin’…